Mobility in Austin, Texas – A Critical Issue for Our Livable City 03-02-2017

This week Shades of Green focuses on several transportation plans the City of Austin is developing. Plus, we discussed how citizens can get involved in the discussion and help chart the future

Our guest was Melissa Ayala , the Communications Specialist with Capital Metro Austin’s prime mobility organization.

• Melissa presented the new Connections 2025 plan (which is designed to boost ridership and increase frequency on our city's bus lines). The plan was just approved by Cap Metro's Board on Monday.

• We also covered the re-launch of Project Connect. Project Connect is a plan designed to create a system of high-capacity transit options that will connect people, places and opportunities in an affordable, efficient and sustainable way. The goals of Project Connect are to identify and evaluate potential transit projects over the next two years. Capital Metro will work with local agencies, stakeholders and the public to identify high-capacity transit solutions that will offer options for travel into, out of and around Central Austin.

• And last but not least, Melissa discussed Cap Metro's upcoming event - Traffic Jam, A Mobility Solutions Workshop on Saturday, March 4th from 8:30am to 1pm at the Bullock Museum

Austin has a ‘Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights’ which was passed by the City Council in January 2017

Our guest was Ryan Spencer, the Manger for Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin (CiNCA). He also is Manager with the WESTCAVE Outdoor Discovery Center.

The Austin Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights was developed with the help of dozens of community partners throughout Austin, all working hard to get more kids enjoying the great outdoors.

But what does the bill of rights actually do? It makes a promise that the city of Austin is dedicated to ensuring that all children have the right to climb trees, hike trails, ride bikes, gaze at the night sky, and so much more. You can view and sign the Bill of Rights on line.

Two housing developments are going up in Central Texas. One is urban the other is agrarian, yet they both share a common theme: SUSTAINABILITY. In downtown Austin the new development is called Fourth&, while the other is called the Elgin Agrarian Community in the rural town of Elgin, Texas east of Austin. Our guests in the KOOP studio discussed these exciting new living spaces.

Scott Sproat is the Marketing Manager for Capsa Ventures, the sustainable developer of Fourth& which is a brand new solar condo community in East Austin. They are all part of a 4-Star Austin Energy Green Building offering solar panels for every residence, LED lighting, variable speed A/C units, pre-insulated steel framing, LED lighting, all set on a concrete structure. Their mission is to change the way Austin is built.

Sean Garretson is the President of Pegasus, the sustainable developer of the Elgin Agrarian Community (or EACo), a 23-acre sustainable, mixed use community featuring 80 cottage-style homes built around a community-supported farm and commercial spaces. Elgin Agrarian is built around the idea that to be truly sustainability as a society, we must create smarter communities that are more connected to their food systems.

Both projects are part of a global movement among developers to create communities that are increasingly more self-sustaining and resilient.

Clothing Recycling in Austin - Can Non-Profits and For-Profits co-exist to meet our Goals? 2-9-2017

The City of Austin, Texas has a goal of reaching zero waste by 2040. Clothing recycling and reuse is an important part of the equation if we are going to meet our goal. The City of Austin recently signed a contract with a for-profit company called Simple Recycling to provide curb-side pickup of clothing from residences. Several local non-profits such as Salvation Army and Goodwill have criticized the plan indicating it would take away from their programs to received donated clothing from Austin citizens. We had both sides represented on the show this week:

Adam Winfield is President and Founder of Simple Recycling. With a focus on offering simplicity and convenience, Adam created Simple Recycling to dramatically reduce the significant waste stream of clothing, shoes and reusable home goods clogging our nation’s landfills. As the largest and fastest growing curbside clothing collection company in the country, Simple Recycling is highest impact environmental initiative a city can implement for no cost and will no operational requirements.

Traci Berry, Sr. VP of Community Engagement and Education at Goodwill in Austin, Texas. Goodwill has been accepting clothing for recycling, reuse, and repurposing in Austin for almost 60 years. Goodwill is concerned that the new curbside recycling plan will reduce donation to its organization and other non-profits in Austin while also possibly reducing jobs and local flow of funds.

Can the for-profit and non-profits co-exsist and increase clothing recycling in Austin? Listen to our Shades of Green Podcast to find out.

How did 350.org come to Austin? Our Guests Bobbie and Gil give us the breakdown:

An exploratory meeting held in our living room on October 11, 2016 was attended by about 40 people concerned about climate change who were interested in starting a local affiliate of 350.org. We became an official affiliate in November 2016. We have had several events since our launch (e.g., Austin Stands with Standing Rock, a Holiday Event and our first Open Meeting), the big event on February 9 2017 is our official Kick Off. Our guest on Shades of Green were:

Bobbie Tsukahara: (soo-ka-hara)

Clinical psychologist and co-founder of 350 Austin with husband, Gil Starkey. I made the decision to retire from my practice in order to devote myself full time to launching 350 Austin and to fighting against climate change.

Gil Starkey:

Co-founder of 350 Austin and am committed to bringing the principles, goals, and strategies of 350.org to Austin in the fight against climate change here at Ground Zero of the fossil fuel industry.

Susan Lippman:

Member of the 350 Austin founding organizing team, became active in 2014 with Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal team’s effort to retire the Fayette coal power plant, Co-Chair of the Wildflower [Unitarian-Universalist] Church’s climate action team, and also active with Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice team.

Bob Hendricks:

Member of the Core Team of 350 Austin, active in ATX Environmental Justice group of the Sierra Club, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and the Austin Climate Alliance as well as members of almost every other organization fighting global warming.

Generation Citizen – a new Non-Profit in Austin – 11-10-2016

A new non-profit comes to Austin called Generation Citizen to inspire young persons to participate in civic initiatives. Our guest was Meredith Norris, the Central Texas Site Manager for Austin’s local chapter of Generation Citizen.

Annual Green New Year’s Resolution Call-in Program 01-05-2017

Shades of Green hosts shared their 2017 Green New Year’s resolutions and reflected on resolutions from 2016. Did they make their resolutions stick? We also heard from listeners and what their Green resolutions for 2017.

Progressive Environmental Initiatives in Travis County, Texas 1-26-2017

Travis County has some of the best parks in Texas and the staff is proud to tell you about them. They also have implemented highly innovative environmental initiatives including a cool recycling program. Often on Shades of Green, we are talking about the City of Austin, so in this episode we give some love to our Travis County friends to discuss their initiatives.

Our guests were:

Shaun Auckland - Senior Conservation Coordinator with Travis County.

Timothy Speyrer - East District Park Manager at Travis County Parks

Finding Innovative Solutions for Recycling in Austin, Texas

On this week’s show we covered new innovations in recycling. We had some of the City of Austin’s Design, Technology, and Innovation Fellows in the studio to talk about new research they’ve been conducting, looking at how people in Austin, Texas view recycling.

The research study involved meeting people in their homes. Austin residents took researchers on a tour of their home recycling systems, pointing out what was easy or challenging. The interviews were documented with notes, photos, and video recordings. The collection of these stories and observations form the foundation of the research conclusions and will guide the development of service recommendations

The idea is that this new research will help the City of Austin develop more efficient recycling programs in order to reach its zero waste goals.

Guests included:

• Celine Thibault and Katherine Duong – City of Austin Design, Technology, and Innovation Fellows in the Innovation Office.

• Emlea Chanslor – Public Information Officer and Marketing Program Manager with Austin Resource Recovery.

• Ron Neumond – Zero Waste Program Development for the City of Austin.

Electric Vehicles! 100,000 for Austin's Roadways coming Soon!

The City of Austin has a plan for 100,000 electric vehicles on the roadways. Shades of Green guests discussed the future of electric vehicles and the push to bring these large numbers to Austin in the near future. We will be joined by Joep Meijer of Climate Buddies and Karl Popham, Manager of Electric Vehicles and Emerging Technologies at Austin Energy.